The present invention relates to a computerized system for determining a customized feed for animals, such as cattle, swine, poultry, fish, crustaceans and the like. In particular, the system determines a feed mix based upon data relating to information such as animal characteristics, available ingredients, speed of product production, and cost of production.
In food production, and specifically producing animal products such as milk, beef, pork, eggs, chicken, fish etc., there is need to improve production efficiency. Production efficiency, i.e. producing the maximum quantity of animal products while minimizing the time and cost of production for those products, is important in maintaining a competitive advantage.
A producer (i.e. a farmer, rancher, pork producer, and the like) generally wants to maximize the amount of animal product produced (e.g. gallons of milk, pounds of beef or pork produced) while keeping the costs associated with feed at a low level in order to achieve maximum animal productivity. The maximized amount of animal product should be produced at a minimized cost to the producer. Costs to the producer include the cost of feed needed to produce the animal products, as well as the costs of related equipment and facilities needed in the production of animal products. In order to minimize the effect of fixed costs associated with equipment and facilities, the maximum amount of animal product should preferably be produced in a minimum time period.
Producers are constantly trying to increase these production efficiencies. One way of increasing production efficiencies is by altering the feed which animals are fed. For example, a feed with certain amounts of nutrients can cause an animal to grow or produce animal products quickly and/or perform better, whereas a different feed with different amounts of nutrients may cause an animal to grow or produce animal products on a more cost effective basis.
Current systems for creating animal feed are not fully capable of helping producers evaluate and improve production efficiencies. Current systems commonly generate an overall nutrient profile which is related to a set of animal characteristics. Such systems then look at the overall nutrient profile and compare what nutrients may be had from the on-farm ingredients. From this comparison, a xe2x80x9cnutritional gapxe2x80x9d can be calculated, i.e., the nutritional requirements that the producer needs to fulfill his production goals after accounting for the use of his on-site feed. This nutritional gap is then compared to the nutritional components which may be available from ingredients located at a supplier""s mill. Through a comparison of the nutritional gap and the nutritional components available from the mill, current systems allow a supplier to provide a cost effective custom feed which is optimized to permit an animal to produce desired animal products on a cost minimized basis.
Currently systems exist that are capable of taking the amounts of on-farm ingredients to be used in the overall diet of the animal into account. This is typically done by accounting for the on-farm component of the animal""s diet as a fixed input parameter in the determination. It would be advantageous to be able to modify the amounts of on-farm ingredients to be used in forming the custom feed as part of the optimization process. Moreover, current systems are generally limited to generating the custom feed based on a single evaluation criteria, typically based on the cost of the feed (e.g., on a cost of feed per unit of animal weight gain basis). It would be advantageous to have a system which is capable of utilizing more than one evaluation criteria in generating the custom feed.
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for determining customized feed for animals, such as farm livestock, poultry, fish and crustaceans. The system stores animal data representative of the characteristics of the animal, feed data representative of the feed ingredients located at one or more locations, and evaluation data representative of at least one evaluation criteria. The evaluation criteria are generally related to factors representative of animal productivity. Examples of evaluation criteria include (i) animal production rate (e.g., the rate of animal weight gain or the rate of production of a food product such as milk or eggs); (ii) cost of feed per unit animal weight gain; and (iii) feed weight per unit animal weight gain. The system includes a data processing circuit, which may be one or more programmed microprocessors, in communication with a data storage device or devices which store the data. The data processing circuit is configured to generate profile data representative of a nutrient profile for the animals based upon the animal data. In effect, the nutrient profile is a description of the overall diet to be fed to the animals defined in terms of a set of nutritional parameters (xe2x80x9cnutrientsxe2x80x9d). Using the profile data, the data processing circuit generates ration data representative of a combination of ingredients from one or more locations. The ration data is generated by the data processing circuit based upon the profile data, the feed data and the evaluation data.
Another embodiment of the system includes processing means for generating the profile data representative of a nutrient profile for the animals based upon the animal data. Using the profile data the data processing means generates ration data representative of a combination of ingredients from one or more locations. The ration data is generated by the data processing means based upon the profile data, the feed data and the evaluation data.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determining customized feed for one or more animals. The method includes storing animal data representative of the characteristics of the animal, storing feed data representative of the feed ingredients located a first location (e.g., on farm), storing second feed data representative of the feed ingredients located at a second location (e.g., at a supplier""s mill), and storing evaluation data representative of one or more evaluation criteria. Profile data representative of a nutrient profile for the animal is generated based upon the animal data. Using the profile data, ration data representative of a combination of ingredients from one or more locations is generated based upon the profile data, feed data and evaluation data.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides customized feed produced by a process. The process includes storing animal data representative of the characteristics of the animal, feed data representative of the feed ingredients located a location, storing second feed data representative of the feed ingredients located at a second location, and storing evaluation data representative of at least one evaluation criteria. Profile data representative of a nutrient profile for the animal is generated based upon the animal data. Using the profile data, ration data representative of a combination of ingredients from the location is generated based further upon feed data and the evaluation data.
A further embodiment of the present invention provides a food product produced from an animal fed a customized feed. The food product is produced by a method which includes storing animal data representative of the characteristics of the animal, feed data representative of the feed ingredients located at a location, storing second feed data representative of the feed ingredients located at one or more additional locations, and storing evaluation data representative of at least one evaluation criteria. Profile data representative of a nutrient profile for the animal can be generated based upon the animal data. Using the profile data, ration data representative of a combination of ingredients from one or more of the locations is generated based further upon the feed data and evaluation data. The combination of ingredients is fed to the animal and the animal is appropriately processed to produce the desired food (e.g., a food product such as milk or eggs may be recovered from the animal or the animal may be slaughtered to provide meat for consumption by humans and/or other animals).
As modifications to the embodiments described herein, systems and/or methods may rely on more than one optimizing criteria and/or feed data representative of ingredients located at more than one location. For example, ingredients which could be used to create the ration may be located at the farm associated with the animals as well as at the mill of an ingredient supplier. Depending upon the requirements of the system, processing can be consolidated in one processor or divided between processors in communication via a network such as a LAN or the Internet. Furthermore, the processors may be located in devices such as workstations, portable PC""s and/or hand held computers.
In other variations of the embodiments described herein, the systems and/or methods may further include a memory portion in communication with the digital processor which stores variation data representative of a range for one or more nutrients of the nutrient profile. The digital processor is capable of generating a set of ration data based upon the variation data. A memory portion of the system may store variation data which corresponds to preselected incremental variations for the values assigned to one or more individual nutrients in the nutritional profile.
Throughout this application, the text refers to various embodiments of the system and/or method. The various embodiments described are meant to provide a variety of exemplary examples and should not be construed as descriptions of alternative species. Moreover, it should be noted that the descriptions of the various embodiments provided herein may be of overlapping scope. The embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative and are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention.